Begin by examining your belief about success. What does
success look like to you? Is it about the money you earn? The rela-
tionships you create? Being challenged by the work? Is it about
having your work accepted in competitions like the Communica-
tion Artsphoto annual? What does success really look like to you?THE DREAM BIOWhen I taught at a photo school years ago, I gave my
students an assignment. I called it a “Dream Bio.” They were to
create their own. The assignment was designed to help them
see what success looked like to them.
Regardless of where you are now in your career, the Dream
Bio can be a tool that you can use as well.
Begin to create this tool in an atmosphere that is calm and
relaxing. Have a free hour or more with no interruptions. Sit
down and imagine that you are living five years in the future.
What does your professional life look like? What are you shoot-
ing? Who are your clients? Do you have a team or are you a
solo operation? What does your space look like? Do you have a
studio or are you working out of an office in your home? How
much money are you making? How many days a week do you
shoot on average? What has been your best experience and
what has been your biggest disappointment?
When you create this bio you are not in your head. You are
in your heart. Don’t think the answers; sense them. Write them
down as soon as they appear without any editing.
If you have been able truly to write your bio without judg-
ment (no scratched-out sentences), you have created a dream
bio that will give you much information.
Don’t spell-check. Simply put the bio away and plan a
review date for two weeks later.
When you are ready to review what you have written, pull out
your dream bio, read it with an open heart and no preconceived
notions of what is attainable and what is not. You will most likely
be surprised by what you see. Once you have read it through,
begin to examine what you have written, looking to see where
your priorities lie within your words. These priorities will begin to
help you see what success looks like to you.CHAPTER1 / YOURVALUES, YOURBUSINESSChapter 01.qxd 7/3/07 12:19 PM Page 5